Tuesday, January 12, 2016

คืนหนึ่งในอัมพวา

We love our friends loads and after procrastinating for years, we couldn't decline their warm invitation to holiday with them in Pranburi (ปราณบุรี). Packed light and piled into their car to drive down from Bangkok. To break up the monotony of driving for three straight hours from Bangkok to Pranburi, we detoured to Amphawa (อัมพวา) for a night.

Since Amphawa is the birthplace of King Rama II(February 1767 to July 1824), we visited the King Rama II Memorial Park to have a little look. There aren't many artifacts except for musical instruments and puppets. However, they've included human figures and all that to depict the way of life during the era. There's also a Dessert Museum to showcase the staggering array of traditional Thai sweets made from the plants grown in the fertile lands of Amphawa over the Sukhothai period to the regency in Ayutthaya and the Rattanakosin. These traditional desserts of the 18th century included ice balls and squares, which were imported from all the way from Boston in the 1800s before ice-making facilities were available in the region. Wow. The sheer logistics.

L and I were extremely impressed by the women's then hairstyles. Perfect for the tropical climate. Crew cuts, under-cuts and overlays! So stylish. We're seriously considering chopping off our hair into something similar. Heh.

Strange people at the King Rama II Memorial Park.
Asked them to pose and they unanimously turned their backs.

Late afternoon, we went out to join the mad crowds at the floating market. We've been eating so much that it's a bit scary to think about food right now. Had to set the rules of only one heavy meal a day. :P But for dinner, we gotta to have at least a light bite right? So might as well walk around a bit to justify all the nibbling at the street stalls. The food's so good that that requires another post tomorrow!

Many people offered to take us out on a boat to view fireflies. Didn't bother with that. It was something to do, but it isn't something we haven't seen. So that wasn't high on the to-do list. But when we headed out to the floating market and on our way back to the resort at 8pm in our resort's long-tail boat, the boatman stopped along the mangrove forest, and we saw hundreds of them flickering brightly. How magical. It's impossible to photograph the flickering winged beetles. Capturing them on film is possible if you have all the wizardry and right gadgets. The night sky with all its stars was beautiful too.

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Notion

“A large, but not particularly impressive, book. Other books in the University's libraries had covers inlaid with rare jewels and fascinating wood, or bound with dragon skin. This one was just a rather tatty leather. It looked the sort of book described in library catalogues as 'slightly foxed', although it would be more honest to admit that it looked as though it had been badgered, wolved and possibly beared as well.
Metal clasps held it shut. They weren't decorated, they were just very heavy – like the chain, which didn't so much attach the book to the lectern as tether it.
They looked like the work of someone who had a pretty definite aim in mind, and who had spent most of his life making training harness for elephants.” ~ The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett